This invention is in the field of adjusters for controlling tension in a belt or web mounted to a child restraint seat.
It is known to provide a child seat for mounting atop an automobile seat with the child seat having a harness for securing a child therein, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,025,111 and 4,342,483. Such a child seat typically includes a harness having a pair of belts slidably mounted to the back of the seat which extend over the chest of the child with the belts having bottom ends removably locked by means of a seat belt buckle and tongue combination secured to the front lower portion of the seat. The opposite ends of the belts extend rearwardly of the seat and are attached to a moveable bar in turn having a forwardly projecting belt with an opposite end affixed to the seat. In our co-pending commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 769,061, filed Aug. 26, 1985 and entitled BELT RETRACTOR WITH TONGUE/BUCKLE CONTROLLED LOCKING CAM, we disclose such a child seat with the forwardly projecting belt attached to the moveable bar being wrappingly mounted to a retractor spool mounted beneath and to the seat and activated by the relative motion between the buckle and tongue. We have disclosed herein a child seat having the previously described harness without the retractor. Instead, our new design discloses a belt or web adjuster mounted to the forward portion of the seat with the adjuster operably engaged with the forward end portion of the belt attached to the moveable bar. Such a web adjuster is shown in the commonly owned co-pending U.S. Design Patent Application entitled WEB ADJUSTER of inventors Allan R. Lortz and Jerry D. Bougher. We are aware of a prior web adjuster shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,550 entitled SAFETY BELT WEBBING ADJUSTER which discloses a pivotally mounted cam for releasably holding a belt. Operation of the adjuster allows for proper tensioning of the harness. We have also disclosed herein an alternate embodiment of the harness assembly wherein the ends of the belts are slidably mounted to a split tongue and then secured to the seat frame. The split tongue is removably and lockingly received by a buckle mounted to the seat.